A touchscreen is known, for example, from DE 20 02 197 U1 (incorporated by reference). A touchscreen for display of electronic signals and a confirming touch input of characters and symbols, consisting of a functional level for display and key input and a higher order, point-deformable protective level corresponding to it, are disclosed in DE 201 02 197 U1. In this case, through selection of specific points of the functional level by touching above the protective level, at least one confirmation signal for the touch sense (haptic stimulation) of the user is detectable at the position of the contact point in the deformed protective level is generated and the confirmation signal for the touch sense (haptic stimulation) is generated by oscillation elements arranged eccentrically within and/or beneath the functional level. In addition, in the touchscreen known from DE 201 02 197 U1, transmission of the generated vibrations from the functional level to the protective level occurs by direct contact of the two levels and/or over the edge regions of the levels by rigid or elastic connection elements.
Touchscreens are also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,565 and EP 920 704 B1. Appropriate touchscreens, for example, touchscreens from 3M™ (see www.3m.com) can be purchased. Additional details concerning touchscreens can be derived from EP 1 560 102 A1.
A touch control with haptic feedback to input signals to a computer and to output forces to a user of the touch control is known from DE 201 80 024 U1 and the corresponding WO 01/54109 A1 (incorporated by reference), in which the touch control has a touch input device, which has a roughly flat contact surface, operated so that it enters a position signal into a processor of the computer based on a position on the contact surface that the user touches, in which the position signal indicates the position in two dimensions. The touch control according to WO 01/54109 A1 also has at least one actuator connected to the touch input device, in which the activator sends a force to the touch input device, in order to furnish a haptic sensation to the user touching the contact surface, in which the actuator sends the force directly to the touch input device based on force information sent by the processor.
Haptic feedback is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,846, WO 03/038800 A1 (incorporated by reference), U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,902, WO 99/26230 A1 (incorporated by reference), WO 97/21160 A1 (incorporated by reference), DE 200 22 244 U1 (incorporated by reference) and WO 03/41046 A1 (incorporated by reference).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,435 discloses a touch panel.
An operating element for a device with several selectable menus, functions and/or functional levels is known from DE 197 31 285 A1, which has a surface that can be grasped by the operator, and via which selection can be carried out by local movement or touching of the surface. The surface is variable in configuration, corresponding to the selected and/or selectable menu, function and/or function value.
PCT/EP2005/008634 describes an operating device to operate a computer device, especially an operating device to operate a computer device to control functions in a vehicle, in which the operator device includes a display for optical display of information, a touchscreen arranged above the display to input commands by touching the touchscreen or by pressing on the touchscreen, and an actuator to move the touchscreen, and in which the operating device has an internal control to drive the actuator to move the touchscreen when the touchscreen is touched or when the touchscreen is pressed in a region of the touchscreen provided for haptic feedback.